On his way out the door, former President Joe Biden issued a full and non-time-restricted pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, despite vowing not to do so earlier in his term, as well as to his siblings — James, Francis, and Valerie Biden — and their spouses. Biden also issued preemptive pardons for Trump’s perceived political enemies, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and several House Jan. 6 committee members. At the time, Trump called Biden’s pardons for family members “disgraceful.”

Trump similarly issued pardons before the end of his first term, including for close allies such as Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father. However, in his second term, Trump has issued dozens of pardons at an early and fast clip, many of them for his supporters.

This week alone, Trump granted 19 pardons and eight commutations for various offenses. His clemency actions extended relief to reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, former Republican New York Rep. Michael Grimm, rapper NBA YoungBoy, and former Army Lt. Mark Bashaw, who was convicted in 2022 for disobeying COVID-19 mandates, among others.

Earlier this year, Trump issued pardons to several of his supporters claiming to be victims of a weaponized Justice Department, such as Grimm. The list included allies with financial or political ties, and, of course, the roughly 1,600 Trump supporters convicted in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“No MAGA left behind,” commented Ed Martin, Trump’s pardon attorney at the DOJ, following the latest slate of pardons and commutations announced by the White House.

Despite the criticism Trump has received for the clemency actions, four Republican veteran strategists with close ties to the White House and one Democratic operative said Biden’s actions cleared the way for Trump to break precedent with past White Houses.

“Look, Joe Biden gave President Trump the green light here, OK?” one GOP operative who worked on Trump’s presidential campaigns told the Washington Examiner. “Where the hell was the outrage when Sleepy Joe was pardoning members of the Biden crime family? Where was the media when Joe decided to grant pardons for Liz Cheney over crimes he claims never even happened?”

“The gang leader concerns me. We should not be loosening our stance on crime, but this is fully within the president’s legal authority,” a second Republican campaign strategist said, referring to the clemency Trump granted to Larry Hoover, the notorious founder of Chicago’s Gangster Disciples.

The gang boasted 30,000 members in Chicago and operated a $100 million national drug trafficking ring in the 1980s and 1990s.

“I think it’s a little strange the media is up in arms over this, considering the corruption on display with Biden’s autopen pardons,” the Republican campaign strategist added.

The Democratic strategist told the Washington Examiner that the Biden team’s behavior in office, including his controversial pardons and an alleged cover-up of his mental decline by White House aides, “took all the guardrails off for Trump.”

“This is a man who — even after being impeached twice, even after being convicted dozens of times — still acts like he could walk down 5th Avenue, shoot someone, and there’d be literally no consequences,” the strategist suggested, referencing comments Trump made during his 2016 campaign for the White House. “It was incredibly irresponsible for the supposed ‘adults in the room’ to act in a way that basically told Trump, ‘You’re the president. Do whatever you want.’”

Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. attorney during the Obama administration, told the New York Times that Trump’s pardons to “public officials or other white-collar criminals convicted of fraud, tax evasion, and other breaches of trust are likely to have the effect of normalizing nonviolent crimes.”

“Of course, stealing by fraud is still stealing,” she explained. “It’s just that this is the way rich people do it.”

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White House officials declined to comment on the timing or rationale behind Trump’s blitz of clemency actions.

DOJ spokesman Chad Gilmartin, responding to the criticism, wrote in a statement on X that “Joe Biden gave his son a blanket pardon for any federal crime committed over the course of a decade.”